Shhh. Don't tell Mom...

'Thrilled' was not the feeling that came over me when handed the basket containing a live cobra.  Neither was, 'happy', or, 'relaxed'.  Nonetheless, the poor creature completely ignored me and couldn't take his eyes off his handler, who then promptly tried to shake me down.  I stuck to my guns and didn't back down despite his terrifying companion, and I think we parted ways respectong each other, if not as friends.

Today was an excellent day of site-seeing, thanks to my very friendly and helpful driver Akbar.  He took me to Humayun's Tomb, Rashtrapati Bhavan ( the President's house), the Secretariat Buildings. the Raj Path, India Gate and the National Museum.  He then took me to a great little lunch place:

After some excellent Chicken Tikka and garlic naan Akbar dropped me a the dilli haat market in INA, where I found some cool stuff at good prices.

I will log several posts in order to keep anyone of them from  getting overlong, and will include more photos and details from each of the areas visited today.

Arrival in India

Welcome to India!

This huge flag flies in the middle of a beautiful park at the center of Connaught Circus, a huge, dual-ring of shops built by the British in a decidedly colonial style:

There are shops, a few restaurants and an open air market (several, actually) as you walk around the circle.  I should be able to get some good market pictures later in the week as some of my colleagues have kindly offered to take me to some interesting ones.

My hotel room backs up onto a Hockey stadium, and this is the view from my room:

Though sadly, there are no matches this week while I am here.

The flight over through Dubai was pretty easy, and I thought it was funny that we flew straight across Iraq, except for the jog to the east to conspicuously avoid Bahgdad.  I am glad I arranged a ride to the hotel from the airport last night - and not just because I arrived at 3am local time.  Even at that hour the driving was crazy, even by Boston standards.  Lane markers - and apparently physics - are mere suggestions to be ignored, and we weaved in and out of lorries, tuk-tuks, motorbikes with no lights on, and other cars.  Exhilarating to say the least.

Also, while I was writing this post, this happened outside my window:

I'm sure it's totally safe.  Anyway, all is well, and much more to come.

Mission Accomplished!

Surprisingly, the trip home yesterday went pretty smoothly! Libby and Annabel were on their best behavior and even managed to grab a few hours of sleep both on the plane and in the van on the way home after landing.

We got up at 4:45am yesterday, China time. No problems at the Guangzhou airport, in marked contrast to our flights to Hong Kong from Beijing a couple weeks ago. Our China Southern airlines experience was a significant improvement over our Air China experience, for your future reference.

We took the 8:25am flight Guangzhou to Hong Kong and just barely had enough time to make it through the multiple additional levels of security in order to switch to our Continental flight at 10:20am to Newark.

We then enjoyed each other's company for 14 hours and 45 mintues. The kids were great, everyone slept at least some. We got in a little early to the States. Immigration and Customs were smooth. We had a van pick us up in Newark and drive us back to my parents house in Lafayette Hill, PA. The Friday afternoon rush hour was not helpful, but we made it eventually.

All in all,door-to-door, it took us 25 hours of travel to get home. But we're here, everyone is happy and healthy, and Libby is now a citizen of the United States, and Meg and Timmy's newest cousin!

China Earthquake Donations

The International Red Cross / Red Crescent is accepting donations to aid earthquake relief efforts in Sichuan Province. Below is a link to their site where you can learn more about the ongoing international response to this significant tragedy. You can also donate money should you be so moved.

http://www.redcross.org/news/in/profiles/Intl_profile_ChinaEarthquake.html

Thanks to everyone who has been following our trip and for all your well-wishes. Tomorrow we head home with Libby!

Shamian Island

Guangzhou is a huge city, by anyone's able to get a firm number from anyone, it is safe to say that there are something like 7-10 million people living here, making it as large as or likely larger than New York City. In fact, there are over 200 cities in China with populations of over 1 million people. The US, in contrast, has something like maybe 10 cities - 15 maybe - that have over 1 million people.


In any case, trust me when I say that Guangzhou is big. It is also sprawling - it just seems to go on and on and on. As you drive along, huge apartment buildings slide by endlessly. Thousands upon thousands of little storefronts selling all manner of items line up at street level. It's a bewildering array of sights, sounds, and smells.

We, however, are staying at the White Swan Hotel (http://www.white-swan-hotel.com/) here on Shamian Island in Guangzhou. Shamian was formerly the sole place where Westerners could interact with the locals. At night the gates would come down, locking the Westerners onto the island until morning. Here is a shot of one of the two pools at the White Swan, replete with waterfall.

As such, the island has a distinct European feel to its architecture, and is filled with huge and beautiful Banyan trees, many of which are over 100 years old. Shamian is a true oasis of relative calm in the bustle of Guangzhou. Here are some shots from the past week around the island, including some food options and one warning sign.

Separated at Birth?

Notice any resemblance in hairstyles here?

Let's hope that's where they end...

Breakfast Series and a Temple

Well apparently there was an earthquake in China today, though we did not feel it here in Guangzhou, which is pretty far to the south-east of the country.

http://www.maplandia.com/china/guangdong/shunde/guangzhou/

Here are a series of pictures of Libby at breakfast this morning. Every day more and more of her (very strong) personality come out - it's very fun to watch.

The picture at the top of the page is from the Buddhist Temple of the Six Banyans here in Guangzhou. I climbed up to the ninth and final level - quite steep steps and very low ceilings. Beautiful though.